Posts by Deb

If turning 50 was fatal, why are we still languishing around in our sixties and seventies now? What’s the deal? Hitting ’50’ didn’t ruin your life? You’re kidding me, right? Surprise, surprise, we did survive that infamous 50th birthday!
So where were you at 50?
Was is it a party you had or a pity party?
Is 50 still way ahead of you, then bear with us. It’ll be here sooner than you’d think. Trust me on that. You might need to read this.
If you had children back then, at 50 your kids were probably right in the middle of their college years (if they went). That had to bring some relief, right? Wrong.
Whoever told us things were going to get easier when our kids grew up was a big liar. The trouble that they can find themselves amidst in early adulthood is exponentially more life altering. Ask any parent of a child gone astray.
It’s been interesting looking back in this AGE series. My goal wasn’t to focus on each stage negatively but to bring a more honest view of both the pros and cons of all ages. We tend to forget the bad and focus on the good. That works, except when we’re fantasizing, about life when we were significantly younger. We all do it.

Ok, we’ve spoken about going back to being five years old and 10, then back to our twenties and to being 30-somethings once again. But to go back to being 40, nope, that’s just not my idea of a good fantasy.
But why, do you ask?
Maybe the word, teenager, comes to mind.
Or say divorce, as many of us had the angst of experiencing in that last ditch effort to, “get it right.” A “teenager” is a long word. It appears between the ages of 13 and 19. There’s so much to cover. Parties, periods, driving nightmares, prom, boyfriend dramas, girlfriend disappointments, drug temptations, beer and alcohol.
Sounds like a boat load of crud to me, being a teenager.

As I look back at being thirty, I must have been incredibly busy. With two little girls, my life was full of shuffling baby seats, giving baths and picking up toys. The die hadn’t been cast for baby #3 yet, and besides, life was full.
My career was on hold but then again thinking back, was it? Work was essential but for many years, part-time was all that worked. Over half the time, staying at home, was what made the most sense.
Money was tight, as we were living in S. Calif., on one income. Our nights out were minimal, and so were our connections to the outside world.

We’ve already turned around and thought about being five years of age, and also ten, in this 9 part series of looking back.
So it’s time to graduate. Let’s take a serious sneak peek back at our lives at 20.
Do you remember being 20?
The biggest concern, at that point, was just getting our lazy asses to college classes? And, the focus was surviving finals or more importantly, who’s party to crash next.
Money wasn’t exactly flowing in. In fact, avoiding our roommate with the utility bills was an art form. Driving our car until it ran out of gas, was sometimes unavoidable.
So why, when we think about that time in our youth, do we believe it was super glamorous and carefree?

I’m sitting on an airplane this morning waiting for it to start down the runway. The flight’s half-full and no one’s beside me, plenty of peace and quiet and lots of elbow room. Yay! There’s no reason not to write; there’s no diversions and plenty of time. Being able to go to sleep on a flight is a bit of a struggle for me. Naps, happen, um – once a year. The bonus is, time flies by when you’re having fun and writing’s fun now.